Big Apple
by PreciousJax
Summary: Sequel to Friendly Rivlary - Max and Logan visit Ben in New York City. Chaos ensues.
1. Sunday Morning Wrestling Match

Big Apple: A Sequel to Friendly Rivalry  
  
By Jacquelyn Arnold  
  
Disclaimer: I need to buy new shoes. If you sue me, I wont be able to get new shoes.  
  
A/N: Hello everyone. This takes place about six months after the end of 'Friendly Rivalry' (F-R). It is about a week before Christmas. This story will actually have an actually plot outside of the shippery-ish-ness-like fluff which was 'F-R'. If anyone has any suggestions, or any comments or criticisms, feel free to email me at princessjaci@hotmail.com mailto:princessjaci@hotmail.com. I write their stories as I go, so if there are any ideas that I like, I might work them into the story.   
  
  
Chapter One: Sunday, December 22nd, 2019  
Logan's Apartment  
9:30  
  
No matter what happened, they always spent Sunday mornings together. Max and Logan rarely knew what was going to happen in the week between pissed off drug lords and corrupt politicians, but they had an unspoken agreement that no matter what happened, Sunday mornings were their time. They started the tradition the morning after they had made love for the first time, and now that they were living together six months later, the continued the tradition. Sometimes, Max drug a grumbling Logan out of bed to take a walk along the waterfront, sometimes they just laid around reading the newspaper and eating a Cale masterpiece breakfast.   
As was the case this morning. Logan sat upright, scanning the Politics section of the paper, while Max stretched out across the couch, her head in his lap, reading the front page.   
"Oh, Look." Max said as she sat up and moved over to she was hip to hip with Logan. She pointed to an article on the lower left hand side of the front page before she started reading out loud. "'Drug bust accredited to the mysterious Eyes-Only.'" She looked up from the paper with mock annoyance. "They make it sound like you did all the work. I'm the one that ruined my shoes getting you that information." With a sigh she continued. "I am so under appreciated."  
Logan laughed and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "That evil media, it is all their faults."  
"Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?"  
"Absolutely not." Logan tightened his arms and pulled her into his lap. "How could I not appreciate you? Your too pretty." Their mouths met in a gentle kiss that spoke of great love and affection.   
When the phone rang, Max moved to answer it, but Logan pulled her back.   
"Let…. machine…get…" he murmured between pressing light kisses along the column of her neck.   
"You've reached the number that you dialed." Logan's cryptic message floated from the office. "We should change that." Max said as he nibbled along her jaw. "Something a bit more…. friendly." She shivered as his teeth scraped over the sensitive area behind her ear.   
When she heard the voice on the machine, she quickly wiggled out of Logan's lap and grabbed to cordless off a nearby table.   
"Ben!" She greeted.   
Ben Gallagher smiled as he leaned back in his chair. He was sitting in his apartment in New York, looking over the landscape of the Hudson Bay. "Hey Max, I was just going to leave a message."  
"Yeah, we were, uh, busy."  
"Whatever, I don't want to know." Ben said laughing. "Let me talk to that lucky bastard for a second."  
"Ok, hold on, he's sulking."   
Ben heard the distinct sound of Max's voice, then Logan's murmured reply, and then Max's burst of wild laughter. There was a loud thump as the phone was dropped. Ben rolled his eyes and waited for someone to get on the line.   
"You and your timing." Logan said after he retrieved the phone of the ground.   
"Sorry to interrupt your Sunday morning wrestling match. I'm sure you'll resume after I get off the phone with you."  
"We'll manage. So, what's up?" Logan asked as he smiled over at Max who was currently digging through the fridge. It was just shy of ten o'clock, and they had had a huge breakfast not more than two hours ago, and she was already making snacks.   
"Listen, do you think you could come out to New York for a few days. Bring Max, spend the holidays here?"  
"You want us to come to New York for Christmas?" Max pulled her head out of the fridge, a long with a plate a sliced ham. "He wants us to come to New York?" Logan shrugged his shoulders, confused. "Don't you usually go to Boston over Christmas to be with your parents?"  
"Julia had her first kid yesterday." Ben said referring to his younger sister. "The whole mob is down in Georgia fawning over the latest grandchild. I put in an appearance yesterday morning and flew back last night. I have to much to do here to take the time off."  
"So that is why you're inviting us out there?"  
"Well…sort of. Listen I came across some…information that you might find interesting. I don't want to talk about it over the phone." Ben added before Logan could question him. "You're the only journalist I know that still has credentials that I really trust."  
Logan lowered the phone. "Ben needs my help with something. He never asks for help unless it is serious. You want to go to New York?" Max looked up from the thick ham sandwich she was building. She took a bite of her sandwich, considering. "Can you get me out of work?" She said, he mouth full.   
"Yeah, sure. I can get someone to call Normal with some weird story that only he would believe."  
"Great. Let's go. I hear New York is great in the winter time."  
"You sure you don't mind not getting to see Cindy and Kendra on Christmas like we had planned?"  
"Nah, Kendra will be preoccupied with the pig." They both winced. "And Cindy would just bitch about us being there together and she being single."  
Logan picked the phone back up. "Ok, give me a few days to make arrangements. I'll call you when I know what's going on."   
When the call was disconnected, Logan turned back to Max, who was still thoughtfully munching on her sandwich. "What is up with Ben?"  
"I don't know; he was all mysterious about whatever it is he needs my help with. I guess we'll find out when we get there. Well either way, New York is really nice during the holidays."  
"You've been there?"  
"One of my better aunt's lived there for a while. We visited her once over Thanksgiving. Saw the old Pre-Pulse parade and so forth."  
"Do they still drop that ball thing at New Years?"  
"I think so. You want to stay for that?"  
"Yeah, lets stay for that. New Years in Seattle is just plain chaos. At least we could see some new chaos and disorder to properly get into the holiday spirit."  



	2. Dating for Dummies

Chapter Two- Monday December 23rd 5:00 PM  
  
Logan was able to book two first class plane tickets on ridiculously short notice, Max was pretty sure there was some bribery going on there. Logan waved Max goodbye as she walked out the door carrying a foil wrapped box. He was on the phone making arrangements to have Bling take care of their apartment and the informant net while they were gone.   
  
"Hey, Boo!" Cindy smiled when she opened the door to the apartment they used to share. Though Max had moved out more than a month before, Cindy had yet to find a new roommate. Though Max had not liked Cindy staying alone, even though they hadn't had any problems with the Reds since the implant. Cindy had reassured Max saying that she was fine living alone, plus, she would never be able to find a roommate as good as Max.   
  
"Hey Cindy. God, this weather sucks!"  
  
"Well, we are in Seattle. What brings you out here? According to Normal, your under quarantine"  
  
Max laughed as she shook her wet hair back off her face. "Yeah, I'm going to have some strange African skin eating disease for the next week or so. That is why I'm here. Remember Ben, Logan's friend, visited a couple of months ago."  
  
"Yeah, right around the time you and Moneybags cut the crap and hooked up, am I right?"  
  
"Yeah, so anyways, he called us up last night, wants us to come out there for New York for Christmas."  
  
"Ahh…I see. That is why you're quarantined."  
  
"Exactly, you don't mind do you? I know we were going to hang on Christmas…"  
  
"Oh, boo, don't worry about it. Sketchy, Herbal, and I are all going to get together and bitch about singleness, and you and Logan there playing kissy-face totally ruins the mood."  
  
"Well, in that spirit, here is your present." She handed Cindy to brightly wrapped box. "Don't open it before Christmas, aiight?"   
  
"Aiight. Here is yours." Cindy grabbed a small decorative bag from next to the tacky ceramic Christmas tree. "Same goes, open it in New York."  
  
"Hey, I'm grabbing Logan's present while I'm here. Since it is obviously to big to take with us, I'm giving it to him before we leave tonight." Max stepped towards the room she used to occupy, but Cindy jumped in front of her. "I'll get it for ya." Before Max could protest, Cindy had slid into the room. Moments later, she emerged, struggling with the large package. "Did Logan notice that your bike is gone yet?" Cindy asked as she transferred the package into Max's waiting hands. "Nah, if he did, he never mentioned it."  
  
"I still can't believe you fenced your baby."  
  
"It actually wasn't as hard as I thought I was going to be. I was just lucky I found this when I did." Max said as she pushed the package towards the door.   
  
"Your not carrying that overgrown, overpriced piece of shit all the way back to Logan's are you?"  
  
"Oh God no, I borrowed his car." She propped the package against the doorframe and turned to give Cindy a hug. "I'll call you when I get back, ok?"  
  
"Aiight, boo. Have a good time in New York."  
  
After Max had gone, and the door was firmly shut behind her, the first thing Cindy did was grab her present off the chair. Of course, she realized that she had promised Max that she wouldn't open it, but she could never resist a present. She made quick work of the paper, and then tore open the box with equal fever. When she saw what was nestled inside tissue paper, she snorted. It was an old pre-pulse book, Dating for Dummies. She was still laughing when there was another knock at the door.  
  
Logan stood there, rubbing his freezing hands together. "Hey Cindy, this weather sucks."  
  
"Well, you just missed Max who also made that stunning observation. Now you two can be the queen and king of Obvious-land."  
  
Logan, who was now used to her sarcasm, went on. "Yeah, she said she was coming by to give you your present. She told you about New York, I assume."  
  
"Yep, picking up her present?" Logan nodded as he walked into Max's old room. What both Max and Logan did not know what that the other was also hiding their presents at Cindy's.   
  
He came out a few minuets later pushing Max's present. "You're not riding that thing home are you?"  
  
"Er, no. I'd rather be alive and in one piece to give this to her. I'm doing the most sensible thing I have probably ever thought of. I am pushing it."  
  
When the door closed for the second time that day, Cindy dropped into a chair to read her new book. She thought she might be able to get a few pointers for tonight at Crash. 'All I want for Christmas is a new lickety-boo, or maybe two. Or seven.   
  



	3. Long Lost

Chapter Three- Logan's Apartment   
  
Max had just finished packing when she heard the sound of a key sliding into the lock and Logan walking in. Max walked out of the bedroom beaming. "Hello." She said as she kissed his stubble-covered cheek. "Hey." He replied as he tossed their mail onto a table.   
  
"Do me a favor." Max said mysteriously.  
  
"Ok, what is that?"  
  
"Go sit on the couch and close your eyes. If you open them, bodily harm is a possibility."  
  
"Oh, gee. I can't wait." Logan muttered as he compliantly sat on the couch. He heard sounds of Max struggling with something in the bedroom. "Max? What are you doing?"  
  
"I'm getting you your Christmas present. Don't open your eyes!" She warned again as she got closer to the couch. "Ok, open up."  
  
Logan popped open his eyes to stare at a large, flat rectangle wrapped in red paper propped up against the table in front of him. He stood and pulled the corner of the paper down.  
  
Max carefully watched the expression on his face, anxiously gauging his reaction. When his face remained still, not moving into the joy she had hoped for, her heart fell. 'He had said he had gotten sick of it, I just thought…' He thoughts trailed off as Logan looked up.  
  
"My mom's painting." He said softly with his lake blue eyes glistening with tears. "I never thought I'd see this again."  
  
"I wasn't sure you would want it back, you said that you got sick of it."  
  
"It broke my heart to sell it. I can't believe you found this." Something suddenly became clear to Logan. "Your bike. That is what happened your bike. You fenced your bike to pay for this didn't you?"  
  
Max softly nodded. "I didn't realize you noticed my bike was gone."  
  
"Of course I did. I couldn't figure out why, but I figured you'd tell me when you wanted me to know." Logan moved to Max and wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close to him. "This painting means so much to me for so many reasons. My mom left this to me when she died; it was one of her favorites. Plus you gave it to me, and like everything you have anything to do with, I love. And to top it all off, you sold something that meant the world to you to make me happy. God, I love you so much." He said burying his face in her hair.   
  
Max laid her head on Logan's shoulder, feeling completely content and safe. "I love you to." She murmured softly. They stood silently together, their embrace speaking volumes.  
  
Suddenly, Logan pulled back. "Somehow I managed to almost forget. Time for your present." He quickly walked across the room and grabbed Max's jacket. He tossed it to her while he searched the pockets of his jacket. Max was pulling on one sleeve of her jacket when he launched something at her. She snagged it one-handed, inches in front of her face. "Ok, what a way to deliver a present. Hit them with it." Max said annoyed as she looked down at the key in her hand. "If this is one of those retarded 'you have to key to my heart' speeches, I am going to hurt you. Seriously."   
  
Logan laughed as he grabbed her arm, pulling her towards the door. "Wait, you'll see." Max slid her other arm in the second sleeve as Logan drug her behind him into the elevator. "Logan, where are we going?" Max asked. Logan hit the button for the garage floor. "Correction, why are we going to the garage?" He just smiled at her and kissed her hand. "You know, it's cold, and we have a perfectly nice apartment up there. Warm too." Logan continued to grin as the door opened to the garage floor. He linked his hand with hers and walked with her towards his car. "What is it keys to your car?" Max asked, perplexed. Then they got closer to the car and she saw what was on the other side.   
  
Max starred wide-eyed and opened mouthed at the brand new gleaming Ninja for a full ten seconds before Logan commented, "It might not have the same sentimental value as my present, but I thought you might like this." Max walked silently forward, and ran a hand over the handlebar. Then she turned and ran back into his arms, making him lose balance for a moment, stumbling backwards a step. She rained his face with kisses, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She repeated over and over again. Then suddenly she stopped and smacked him in the back of the head.   
  
"Hey! What was that for?"  
  
"Figures you'd give me a bike ten minuets before we have to leave for New York so I can't even ride it for two weeks!" Max exclaimed exasperated.   
  
"I don't care if your genetically enhanced or not. Your still a typical female, never ever happy, no matter what men do."  
  



	4. Secrets

Chapter Four- John F. Kennedy International Airport   
  
  
"Now announcing the arrival of flight 265 from Seattle International Airport at gate D14."   
  
Ben sat causally in a chair outside of gate D14, waiting for Max and Logan to arrive. He was running off of about two hours of sleep in the past three days, having pulled a couple of all nighters digging into the project he had recently found.   
  
When people started to trickle out of the corridor from the plane, Ben stood to walk near the entrance, scanning the crowd for Max and Logan.   
  
He spotted Logan's head first, then Max's at his side. "Logan! Max!" Ben called, but his voice was lost in the din of the crowd. It was Christmas Eve in one of the countries busiest airports, plus there was apparently some blizzard in Chicago. So there were people camped out everywhere and Ben stepped over several sleeping bags as he moved to intercept the couple that were rapidly walking in the wrong direction. "Hey!" He said as he jumped in front of them.   
  
Max looked up at him from under the bill of the baseball cap she had pulled low over her hair. Her face lit up as she greeted him. "Ben!" She said as she jumped forward to give him a hug, but was cut off by a man who shoved through them dragging a suitcase behind him. "God! This place is insane!" Logan muttered under his breath. Ben didn't catch his words, but since it was five AM, and he was awake, it probably wasn't going to be good.   
  
After an interesting half hour of tracking down Max and Logan's luggage and somehow making it out into the parking garage in one piece, Max dragging a half awake Logan behind her through the crowds, the group made it to Ben's car.   
  
Fifteen minuets into the ride, Max was kicking Logan from the backseat to keep him awake. "Serves you right for not sleeping on the plane when I told you too." Max muttered from the back seat, nudging Logan yet again with her foot.   
  
When they finally made it to Ben's spacious apartment, Logan crawled into the guest bedroom and was out before Max could kick him again.   
  
"He hasn't had a whole lot of sleep in the last three days, so you'll have to excuse him." Max said walking back into the kitchen where Ben was fiddling with a coffee machine. "He had some, uh… work to do." She explained. Smiling briefly.   
  
Ben interpreted that smile to mean tearing up the sheets. "Uh, keep it to yourself, thanks." He said with a dramatic grimace.   
  
Max laughed, knowing the real reason that Logan had stayed up all night was because she was out pulling a little breaking and entering of the Eyes Only variety, and Logan never slept when Max was out at night. It was one more of the endearing qualities that she loved about him. Let Ben think what he wants, she thought as she propped herself up in one of the bar stools as Ben poured them both a mug of coffee. "Aren't you tired too?"   
  
"Nah, I don't need a whole lot of sleep." Max said smugly. "Question."   
  
"Go ahead."   
  
"What was this big story that you needed Logan's help for?" Max asked, stirring a spoon of sugar into her mug idly.   
  
"No offense, Max, but it is up to Logan whether he wants to tell you about it."   
  
"Ben, no offense, but I'll find out anyway. I'm bored now, give me something to think about." Max said playfully picking up her coffee mug and walking across the room to look at Ben's book collection.   
  
Ben rolled his eyes. "Something tells me you have Logan on a short leash, and you will find out regardless of whether I tell you."   
  
"You learn quick." Max said.   
  
Be started to explain quickly as he dug around inside his fridge. "The short version, a week ago I was reporting on the South African Civil war, I watched someone who was a lot stronger than humanly possible take out the leader of the rebel uprising. I started researching, and completely by accident I stumbled onto a genetics lab that I think are taking children and training them from birth to be the perfect super soldiers. A place called Manticore."   
  
He whirled around at the sound of shattering pottery. Max had dropped her coffee mug and was staring at Ben, her hand frozen midair.   
  
  
A/N: Oh, I love cliffhangers. I'll post more in a couple of days, or sooner if I get lots of reviews (nudge nudge wink wink!!).   
  



	5. Revealed

Chapter Five:   
  
"Oh, sorry!" Max said as she dashed over to grab a pile of paper napkins of the counter. "The thing just slipped right out of my hand." Max said apologetically as she quickly mopped up the spilt coffee off the hardwood floors.   
  
"Don't worry about it," Ben said as he walked over with a broom and dustpan.   
  
They quickly picked up the shattered pottery, Ben dumping it into the trashcan, when Max sat at one of the bar stools. "So about this, what is it, Manticore? What do you need Logan's help with?" Max asked innocently.   
  
"I had an interesting interview with the director of Manticore, a woman named Renfro. Back in '09 a group of these kids broke out, and they are still out today. One of them is in New York, and I want Logan to help me catch her, in exchange, Manticore will let me inside their base to take photos of their genetics lab."   
  
Max felt faint. She was trying as hard as she could to keep a straight face, act impassive, but it was quickly becoming impossible."   
  
"How are you going to know if it is one of those kids, it could just be a mistake?" She said nervously.   
  
"With this." Ben said, walking across the room to pull a leather bound photography portfolio out of a briefcase. "Take a look at these." Ben slid a stack of several pictures across the counter to Max.   
  
Max forced her hand to stay at her side. It was a series of pictures, ten total, close-ups of barcodes on the back of children's necks. Barcodes of Max's siblings. There was Zane, Krit, Syl, Jondy, Zack, Tinga, all of them that escaped that night. All except Ben and Bryn obviously, Max thought, a searing pain shooting through her head.   
  
Ben watched Max closely as she flipped through the pictures. Her face had remained impassive, like she hadn't a care in the world, but the way her hands were lightly shaking, it told Ben that something more was going on. "I really want to help Renfro catch these kids. We can't just have killing machines wandering the streets. These kids have to be seriously screwed up people, and really shouldn't be in regular society. I mean; the one was a serial killer. I think he killed around twenty people."   
  
'Tell us about the good place, Ben.'   
  
Max threw the pictures down on the counter as if an electric current had passed through them. "I'm going to go wake up Logan, I'll be right back." She said in a haunted voice before turning and fleeing the room.   
"Wake up! Logan, wake up!" It felt like a mere minuet since Logan had laid his head down on the pillow that Max's frantic voice infiltrated his sleep. When he opened his eyes long enough to glances at the digital alarm clock on the nightstand next to him, he found out that he wasn't that far off. Knowing it had to be good for Max to sound panicked; he sat up in bed, scratching his head. When he saw the expression on her face, it only solidified his feeling that something had to be wrong. "I told you, I'd go out with you tonight, I just want to get some sleep." He said flippantly, scratching the back of his head as he tried, pathetically, to avoid the bad news he knew was coming.   
  
"Ben is working for Manticore." Max whispered fiercely.   
  
Logan was fairly sure his jaw hit the ground. He hadn't known what to expect, but it wasn't that. "I think I must have heard you wrong. Did you just say *Ben* is working for Manticore? You've got to be joking."   
  
"Ok, Logan, your right, sorry to have woken you up, this was all a big joke." Max snapped, standing up from where she had been perched at the edge of the bed to pace back and forth.   
  
"Max, calm down. What do you mean Ben is working for Manticore, he's a photographer." Logan asked rationally.   
  
"I don't know, but he has a whole stack of pictures with all of our barcodes, mine included, and he is talking about how we need to be removed from society. He thinks we are serial killers, Logan!" Max cried, throwing her arms into the air. "He called you out here to help Manticore capture the X5s with him." Max laughed bitterly. "Oh, the irony…"   
  
Logan swung his legs off of the bed and quickly stood. "Your going back to Seattle on the next plane." He ordered as he pulled on pants.   
  
"No, I'm not." Max shot back.   
  
"I'm not letting you stay here when it is probably crawling with Manticore TAC teams." Logan said firmly as he pulled a sweater over his head.   
  
"First off," Max said in a low voice. "You don't *let* me do a damn thing. I make my own decisions, not matter how long we've been together." She paused, just daring Logan to say something. He knew much better. "And two, if Ben said that there is an X5 in New York, and if he knows that, then Manticore is like three days ahead of him. There are still five of my brothers and sisters that we have no idea of their location, and it could be anyone of them. They might need my help, and I am not going to hop on the next plane to Seattle just the appease you."   
  
Logan silently sat on the edge of the bed with an exasperated sigh. Since they had become involved six months before, it had been relatively quiet for them, well, as quiet as it could be when one half of the relationship was an anonymous guerilla cyber journalist and the other was a fugitive military experiment that had been on the run for the past eleven years. But now it seemed as if it was all catching up to them at once.   
  
Max crossed the room to kneel in front of Logan. She laced his fingers with his and laid her head on his knee as she spoke softly. "I can't turn my back on them, Logan. It could be any one of them out there, and as much as I'd like to make you happy and go home, I couldn't live with myself if something happened because of it."   
  
They sat like that a moment, Logan running his hand through Max's hair as they both sat in their own private worlds.   
  
"Come on." Logan said lighting nudging Max. "Let's go find out how much Ben knows and how far into this he is. You never know what we might be able to use him for."   
  
Ben stood in the kitchen, flipping through the sports section of the newspaper as Max and Logan walked back in a few minutes later. "Hey, sorry Max. I didn't mean to freak you out about the thought of these people walking the streets and all." He said sympathetically.   
  
"Oh, don't worry about it." Max said easily as she sat down at the table, hiding her shaking hands under the table. "I was just startled because Logan was working on almost the exact same story a couple of months ago."   
  
"Really?" Ben asked, looking up surprised at Logan. "How's that for irony? Well, I guess that makes sense because Madame Renfro said that there was an X5 who was sighted several times in Seattle." Logan reached under the table and gripped Max's shaking hands.   
  
"Yeah, I…we…"Logan corrected nodding towards Max, "We hit a dead end a couple weeks ago."   
  
"Well there is definitely one here, in the city. I've been helping the Manticore TAC teams with tracking her down. We have it pretty much narrowed down to three mile radius." Max and Logan winced at Ben's reference to the X5 being an 'it'. Not him or her, but 'it.'   
  
"But, Ben." Logan interjected. "Why are you so dead set on capturing them? From what I could tell they blended in with society and had no reason that they needed to be taken back to a place that they didn't want to be at. We can't force people to be in the military that don't want to be there, and how is this any different?"   
  
"Blending in with society? Logan, these are trained killers. As children they ritualistically killed a convict as a training exercise. What do you think they are capable of adults? The one is accredited of over 25 murders, and he would have kept going but someone ended his miserable stay on earth. They can't blend with society, they aren't the kind of people who can lead normal lives, and they shouldn't be walking around the streets so one day they snap and kill 25 more." Max wanted to run out of the room. She wanted to cover her ears and run out of the room. She wasn't a killer. She wasn't. But the way Ben was speaking of her brother…it made something boil up in the back of her throat, something that she couldn't tell if it was rage at his defamation of Ben's memory, or grief that that was what his life had come to. It was another irony that Ben seemed to narrow out the one X5 who hadn't gotten away from their past as well as the rest, and they shared the same name.   
  
The only thing that kept her from breaking out into hysterical tears as she seemed to do when she ever remembered the feel of Ben's neck snapping under the grip of her hands was Logan's reassuring squeeze of her hand under the table as he sat and debated with Ben over whether the X5s were threats to everyday people or not. She could lead a normal life, she had so far. At least as normal as she could ever be.   
  
"Look," Ben conceded after a long forty-five minutes of debate. "Manticore has set up a trap to try and lure the X5 out of hiding, come with me tonight and you can see what these 'innocent kids' as you put it can do to people."   
  
  
  



	6. A Lot Can Happen in One Night

9:52 PM – December 24, 2020 – Ben's Penthouse   
  
"Are you sure you want Max to come with us on this?" Ben asked quietly as he pulled on his heavy leather jacket near the front door. Logan stood next to him, zipping his own jacket.   
  
"Trust me, if I had any say in the matter, Max wouldn't even be in the city right now." Logan said under his breath as he walked over to Max, who was really worrying him at the moment. Ever since Ben had brought up the subject of an ambush against the X5 who was in the city, she had become extremely quiet and sullen, barely uttering a word even when someone was speaking directly to her. "Max, you sure you don't want to stay back?" Logan asked softly. Max shot Logan a hot look from under her lashes. "Let's get this b**ch done with." She said in a low voice as she walked out the door.   
  
"I'm sorry, sir." A uniformed TAC soldier moved forward to block Ben, Max, and Logan's path. Logan subtly moved in front of Max to block her from view. "We have a situation here, and there are no bystanders are being allowed through here." He finished as more teams unloaded from the back of military trucks. The teams swarmed around what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse, their semiautomatic machine guns perched at their shoulders.   
  
Ben reached into his pocket and pulled out a laminated card. "I am supposed to have clearance, I'm with Renfro." He said quickly. The TAC soldier reached forward and accepted the card, studying the picture on the ID as he glanced at Ben. "I'm sorry, you need at least A6 clearance to be here, I'm going to ask you to leave. They have two X5s in there and we can't risk the civilian lives. "   
  
Ben was about to protest when Logan tapped his shoulder from behind. "Let's just go, Ben." He said widening her eyes for emphasis. They took four steps off before Max spoke. "Follow me." She said before darting into an alley, jogging quickly despite her heavy leather boots.   
  
Ben considered himself in decent shape, he worked out whenever he could; he'd marched through deserts with rebel armies in the middle east in the middle of heat waves, yet he still found himself trailing behind Max, Logan at his side, out of breath as she quickly detoured the TAC teams. "God she's fast!" Ben admonished breathlessly as they rounded a corner, seeing Max a hundred yards ahead of them. "How does she move that fast?" He asked as he hitched his camera bag back onto his shoulder.   
  
"Max was on the track team in high school." Logan lied easily as he followed Max around the next corner.   
  
Ben and Logan found Max pulling off her jacket as she peered through a small window. "Max, what's--" Ben began before Max cut him off.   
  
"Shh…" She whispered almost silently. "Logan," She directed as she tossed him her jacket. "Get out of here, go back to Ben's, if I'm not back by morning, get out of the city." Max began to silently open the window.   
  
"Max, no." Logan begged as a grabbed her arm trying to stop her, but he knew it was already to late. Hey eyes were hard, that look she had when she was on a mission and no one was going to stop her, the look that had mesmerized him so many times, yet now scared him.   
  
"I have to help Zack and Niva." She said simply as she slid the window the rest of the way open and slid silently through.   
  
"Logan, what the hell is going on?" Ben asked from beside him, his voice a strange shade of suspicion, his eyes wary.   
  
Zack and Niva stood in a defensive stance, circling slowly as at least twenty-five TAC soldiers filed into the room. "This isn't good." Niva whispered from behind Zack.   
  
"Show no fear, soldier." Zack shot back.   
  
The TAC team filled the room; their weapon's drawn, their faces frozen with impassiveness. One solider who appeared to be the first in command stepped forward, his gun trained on Zack's head. "We have you surrounded, there is no where you can escape too. Surrender peacefully and this will be a whole lot easier." The man spoke calmly.   
  
"Surrender?" Niva shouted with a sneering laugh. "You want me, you'll have to come and get me."   
  
"Let's be realistic, X5 137, it is two of you against two dozen of us. You can't take us all before one of us gets a shot off." He said gesturing towards Zack with the barrel of his gun. And he was right, he was absolutely right.   
  
"But when there is three, that changes things a bit, doesn't it." The husky female voice echoed from the shadows behind Niva. She heard Zack swear under his breath as Niva heard the sound of two feet hitting the floor.   
  
Max joined formation easily, falling into step between Niva and Zack. "Nice to see you again, big sister." Max said distactidly to Niva with a small smile. Niva was in too much shock from the day's events to really be surprised.   
  
"What in the hell are you doing here Max?" Zack snapped from the side.   
  
"Saving your a**." Max said quietly before she projected her voice to the TAC team ahead of them. "I think the question now should be, do you want to surrender now and make things easier on you? Or do I need to beat all of you into a coma?"   
  
Logan and Ben stood watching in horror as Max joined ranks with Zack and the third X5. Logan felt all the blood rush out of his head when five TAC soldiers trained their guns on Max's chest and head while she circled with her siblings. He then felt the air catch in his throat when the three leapt forward into the throng of soldiers.   
  
Ben watched amazed as Max jumped at least eight feet forward to take out the first guard with a punishing kick the neck. Max…she was an X5. It just didn't make sense, but there was no other way. "Logan." He said, carefully checking his anger. "Did you guys forget to tell me something?"   
  
Max ran full speed towards the wall, one of the few remaining TAC soldiers following behind her. She leapt, running along the side of the wall before she flipped backwards over the man's head, ending his conquest with a spinning kick to the back of the head. "You guys are totally ruining my vacation." She said sarcastically before she turned to check out the rest of her competition. Max spun, spotting the last soldier as he backed Niva into a corner, who was fending off two soldiers of her own. Max ran forward, diving into a series of handsprings. After a blunt bow the back of the head ended the last remaining soldiers time among the conscious, Max, Zack, and Niva found themselves back to back in the center of the large room, their chests heaving from the satisfying exertion of a good fight.   
  
Zack took a step forward, gesturing towards Max and Niva with his hands as he fired off commands via hand signals.   
  
'Max, you take the back, Niva and I will go out the side. Stay in the shadows, rendezvous at –' Zack's signs were quick and abrupt.   
  
Max cut him off with the flick of a wrist.   
  
'8546 West King Street, Penthouse Apartment. Its safe there.' She signed fluidly.   
  
Or at least she hoped it was.   
  
Zack nodded, not having the time to argue. He held his fist up and turned it to the left in the sign to execute the orders. Max's brown eyes met with Niva's green one last time as they both started to move towards their destination. Eleven years without seeing each other was hell, pure hell.   
  
Max ran off to the back, while Niva and Zack sprinted to the side, feet pounding on the rotting floorboards of the old building. Max had just about reached the backdoor when she saw three TAC soldier jog in, weapons raised and trained on her. She spun on her heel and ran towards the steps that would take her to the second floor, and when a bullet whizzed past her ear and wood splintered a mere centimeter from her head, Max realized one thing. They weren't out to take prisoners anymore. They were out to kill.   
  
Max leapt up the stairs, her legs straining as the launched herself up until she reached the top floor. She ran to the window, only to look out over the Hudson Bay. There was nowhere to go, she couldn't exactly jump into a frozen bay in the middle of December. She turned around again as the sound of feet pounded up the stairs. "Looks like I have to kick a little more a** tonight." She muttered as she the first man cleared the steps. "Fine by me." Before she could react, he'd fired his gun, and Max stumbled back uncontrolled as she avoided the bullet.   
  
It was too late though, she had no time to try and regain her balance, only time for a small scream to escape her lips as she crashed through the window, seeming to fall endlessly. Her last thought was of Logan before she crashed through the thin layer of ice into the ice-cold water of the Hudson Bay.   
  
It seemed like an eternity that Max, Zack, and the as-yet-unidentified female whittled their opponents down to nothing with a dazzling display of gymnastics, martial arts, and pure strength. Zack issued a series of hand signals before Max sprinted off in one direction, Niva and Zack in the opposite.   
  
Ben and Logan began to move silently down the alleyway before the sound of breaking glass, and even more terrifying, the sound of one small female yelp split through the eerily silence. Logan looked up just in time to see Max's flailing body fly uncontrolled out of a top story window.   
  
"HEY! YOU DOWN THERE!" Logan and Ben's head whipped around as three armed soldiers jogged down the alley. "You aren't supposed to be down there!" All three raised their weapons and took aim before Ben and Logan reacted.   
  
"On three, run like hell." Ben mouth almost soundlessly.   
  
"Max…" Logan whispered brokenly.   
  
"Logan, we have to go now." Ben said as he pulled on Logan's arm. Logan snapped out of whatever trance he was in and joined Ben as they hauled a** down the hallway.   
  
Ben and Logan skidded to a stop next to Ben's car, climbing in quickly as shots echoes out, one shattering the front headlight. "Go! Go! Go!" Logan shouted as he jumped into the passenger seat and slammed the door.   
  
Ben fishtailed as he whipped the car into gear and flew out of the parking lot. "You two have some major explaining to do." Ben muttered as he watched soldier run out onto the street, pointing wildly at the car.   
  
11:36 PM – Ben's Penthouse   
  
"I never thought that I would ever have to use this." Ben said as he emerged from his room. He slid a clip into a small black handgun with his right hand as he loosely grasped the cool metal in his left.   
  
Logan didn't respond, just continued to stare out the window despondently, his own weapon laying untouched on the high table next to him. Ben wanted to reassure him, tell him that he was sure Max was all right, but he didn't think he could say it when his own mind was steel reeling from what he had learned that night.   
  
'Come back to me, Max, please, come back to me.' Logan mentally prayed as he stared down at the street below, desperately searching the light traffic for signs of Max, signs of her being ok.   
  
Ben scratched the back of his head, at a complete loss for words. He had so many questions to ask, so much he had to know, but he couldn't force himself to search for the answers that would solidify the evidence that a woman he'd considered a friend, a woman he'd respected, was a woman that he had been aiding in apprehending. He didn't want to know that there was a chance that Logan, a friend who'd he'd shared countless pizzas over calculus books at three am, has been *knowingly* living with a cold-blooded killer.   
  
Logan and Ben heard the light sound from outside the door and both grabbed their guns as the door flew open, the loud crack of wood against wood echoing throughout the quiet penthouse.   
Logan dropped the gun to his side as Zack stepped quickly into the room, a red headed female following him as she checked the hallway and shut the door quickly behind her.   
  
  
"Zack, where's Max?" Logan snapped; panic rising in his voice. When Ben saw that Logan knew who the angry looking male was, whom he recognized as the X5 Max had gone to help, he dropped his own gun to his side. This was all getting real complex real fast, and he really didn't like it.   
  
"I don't know; we got split up." Zack answered quickly as he crossed the room to shut the blinds on the window. "This is the rendezvous point, she knows to make sure she isn't being followed."   
  
"Well, we watched her take a header off the top of the building, and it didn't look planned at the time." Logan snapped as he tossed his gun haphazardly onto the dining room table to pace back and forth.   
  
"What are you talking about? When we split up she was going out the back door." Zack shot back.   
  
"It looked like she was knocked off the top floor, or fell or something, and we saw no sign of her before TAC teams started playing target practice with us. I'm going to go look for her." Logan said as he moved towards the door.   
  
"Max knows what to do, she's been trained for this." Zack said as he stepped in front of Logan. "She'll get back when she can."   
  
"And she could be hurt and need our help." Logan hissed back. "Her training isn't going to do her a hell of a lot of good is she can't move, is it? I'm telling you, I'm going to go look for her."   
  
"Looking for her will only put her in more danger." The woman spoke for the first time since she had walked in, her voice smoothly slicing through tension in the room.   
  
"Who are you?" Logan asked somewhat warily.   
  
"Niva, Max's sister. And you are?" She asked as she brushed her hair off her face.   
  
Logan didn't answer, only continued to stand toe to toe with Zack, each of them staring each other down as they waited for the lesser man to back down. Logan didn't have a chance to win a staring contest against a trained military commando, so he simply admitted defeat by turning on his heel and walking quietly out of the room.   
  
"Well he's certainly the sociable sort." Niva huffed as she flopped down on the couch.   
  
4:07 AM – December 25, 2020 – Ben's Penthouse   
  
Logan leaned against the railing of the balcony outside of the guest bedroom, the light breeze ruffling his hair as he stared out over the bright skyline of New York City. And by Max coming here, there was a good chance that she could be dead, or worse, she could have been recaptured by the bastards who wanted to use her for spare parts on the next—   
  
Logan shook the thoughts from his head. He had to stay positive. He had to stay strong for Max.   
  
But if something had happened to her, he could never forgive himself. It was as simple as he couldn't live without her.   
  
4:23 AM – December 25, 2020 – Ben's Penthouse   
  
Ben was never a big drinker, despite the fact that he came from an Italian mother and Irish Father. Past the occasional glass of wine or beer with some guys from the paper, he never really drank that much. But right now, he really wanted a drink, a nice big stiff one.   
  
He was harboring two people in his home, fugitives that had been running from the government for the past eleven years. The third one, still missing as of now, was one of the supposed killers that he had been helping to find, and she was living with his best friend. He said 'supposed killers' now because he couldn't believe no matter how much he tried, he couldn't see Max as a killer. The blonde guy who was currently sleeping lightly on his couch, he had no problem seeing him taking out a bunch of people with an AK47. Then there was the red head with the haunting eyes; she was currently sitting out on the terrace outside the dining room, barely having said a word since she'd come in. He had no idea what to think of her, she could have passed for any twenty-something female in the city with her chin length bob of blood red hair, but it was the eyes that stood out. They were huge, green, laser green, with something deeper lying beneath the carefully crafted defense system she'd obviously cloaked herself in. She was a mystery, plain and simple, and one that Ben found himself wanting to uncover.   
  
Ben stood to go raid his kitchen to see what forms of hard liquor he had, and that was when he heard the sound. It sounded like someone had just fallen against the door.   
  
It had been a very faint sound to him, and he'd been sitting right next to the door, yet Zack shot up to a sitting position as if someone had just thrown a hand grenade through the window.   
  
Ben picked up his gun as Zack crossed the room soundlessly. He eased to the side; placing his hand on the doorknob and slowly turning, ready to take the head off of whoever was there.   
  
When the weight against the door caused Max to loose his grip, and the door flew open and Max stumbled in the door, tripping off balance on her own feet. Ben's arms shot out instinctively as she toppled forward, dazed.   
  
"Sh**." Ben cursed violently as he dropped the gun out of his hand and lifted Max's slight weight. She was soaking wet, and her skin was waxy and gray, her eyes unfocused.   
  
Zack shot forward. "Max?" He said as he pushed Max's wet hair off of her neck and checked her pulse. "Max, can you hear me?" Max made a small sound, her eyes rolling momentarily into the back of her head as she blinked sluggishly. "Niva! Get in here!"   
  
"What's going on?" Logan asked as he walked out of the guest bedroom. He saw Zack rush past him, shoving everything off the kitchen table with one fluid arm movement. Then he looked up and his heart jumped into his throat as he saw Max limp in Ben's arms. "Max! Oh God." He cried as he shot forward.   
  
Niva ran into the room just as Ben was laying Max across the table. Ben, Logan and, Zack all started talking at once, each of them shouting orders at the other.   
  
"Everyone shut up!" Niva shouted, taking control as she shoved Ben aside to get next to the table. "Maxie, honey, can you hear me?" She said softly as she felt Max's wrist.   
  
Max's head rocked back and forth weakly as she spoke, her words garbled. She moaned as she weakly tried to sit up. "Ok, honey you need to stay still, all right? Can you do that for me?" She cooed softly as she turned to where the three men stood helplessly. "Ok, I think she has hypothermia, I need to get her out of these clothes. Ben, get me scissors, I'm going to have to cut her out of them. And a thermometer if you have one. Zack, go turn the oven on and open up the door, get that thing heating up. Logan, get me as many blankets as you can find. We need to get her core temperature up and fast. Move! Move! Move!"   
  
They all scattered, Ben running into the bathroom, Zack sliding past them to fiddle with the over controls. Ben was back a moment later, a pair of black handled scissors in his left hand, a electronic thermometer in the right. Niva grabbed them wordlessly and started at the leg of her black pants, quickly slicing the damp fabric away from her skin. "Maxie," She talked softly and reassuringly as she monitored Max's consciousness. "You're going to be just fine, just stay awake, ok." She carefully lifted Max's left leg up, pulling the fabric away and sliding it off. "Ben, get me a hat, a ski hat, something to cover her head with. She's not warming up fast enough, we need to get her warm faster." Ben ran out of room to root through a hallway closet.   
  
Niva pulled off what remained of Max's pants, and moved to cut off the soaked black cotton that clung to her skin. Max lifted her arms up lethargically, trying to push Niva away as she slid the thermometer into her mouth. "…oogg…oggaaannn." She moaned, her head rolling back as she rejected the thermometer from her mouth.   
  
"What Maxie?" Just as Logan stepped back into the room, his arms full of blankets Max half words made sense. "Logan? Are you looking for Logan?" Logan dropped the blankets on the floor and flew to Max's side, taking his hand into hers.   
  
"Max, baby, I'm right here." Logan said as he kissed Max's hand. "I'm right here, and I am not going anywhere. Now let Niva help you ok?"   
  
Max immediately stilled when Logan's hand took her own. Niva quickly sliced off the rest of her clothes as Ben ran back into the room with a heavy wool hat in his hand. Niva grabbed it out of his hand and carefully put it on Max's head.   
  
"She isn't shivering," Logan stated the obvious. "Isn't that good?"   
  
"No, its really bad." Niva said as she grabbed one of the blankets and wrapped it tightly around Max. "Zack! How's that oven coming?" Niva pulled the thermometer out of her mouth with the flick of her wrist. "S**t. Ninety-one point four. We need to get her core temp up as soon as we can. She's been hypothermic for to long."   
  
"I'm ready!" Zack called.   
  
"Why is her not shivering bad?" Logan asked as he stroked Max's face with the side of his hand.   
  
"Because her body is shutting down." Niva snapped impatiently. "Now take off your clothes."   
  
"Excuse me?" Logan asked confused.   
  
"I don't have time for this." Niva shouted. "Direct contact with body heat is the only way to get her warm, she seems to be the most comfortable with, now take off the f**king clothes! Zack, get your a** in here and move her. Ben lay a blanket on the floor in front of the oven. Move people!" Niva shouted out orders with the grace of a southern belle and the iron authority of a war general. "Don't move her too much, she'll go into cardiac arrest."   
  
"Well there is inspiration for you." Zack muttered as he scooped Max up.   
  
Logan pulled off his sweater, dropping it as he moved in front of the group, then dropping his tee shirt and pants. He sat in front of the oven, which was pouring heat into the air. Zack carefully lowered Max into Logan's arms. "You need to keep her still." Niva repeated as wrapped a blanket around Max and Logan. "Talk to her, keep her awake. But don't rub her, it could send her into cardiac arrest, also."   
  
Logan cradled Max against his chest, leaning back against the counter behind them as he murmured idiocies to her, talking about nothing and everything at the same time.   
  
Ben, Zack, and Niva stood wordlessly over them, every once in a while, Niva would crouch down and checked Max's pulse and temperature. It was the longest twenty minuets of all of their lives before Niva brokenly whispered, "She's warming up. Ninety- five-point-nine."   
  
Logan smiled softly as he continued to rock back and forth, stroking Max's hair. "We just can't seem to take normal vacations can we?" Logan said as he kissed her, admittedly, warmer forehead.   
  
Ten minuets later, Max was able to speak normally, and it was then that Niva reassured them all that she'd be fine. Of course, Max's first words were profanity, but that was to be expected.   
  
"Can I go to sleep yet?" Max asked drowsily, blinking at the bright lights of the room around her.   
  
"Yeah, baby sister. Can I clean out your cuts first?" Niva asked with a smile. "New York is dirty, and the water is worse. You'd be surprised what you were swimming with."   
  
Max eyes were just drifting shut again, but the immediately flew open again with a hissed breath as Niva touched a cotton pad soaked with rubbing alcohol to a long slice along her arm. "Ahhh! What the hell is that? Acid?" Max snapped pulling her arm back.   
  
"Suck it up, Maxie." Niva said with a playful grin. "I don't want you getting some sort of weird a** disease from this."   
  
Logan held Max's hand and felt her pain, literally, as Niva disinfected her wounds, and bandaged the worst of them.   
  
"Max, can you promise me something?" Logan asked as he carried her towards the guest bedroom.   
  
"Mmmhmmm?" Max murmured into the curve of Logan's shoulder.   
  
"Next time you want to go swimming, can you wait till some decent weather, then not go through a window in the process?"   
  
Max laughed softly. "My bad." She whispered as Logan laid her down on the bed. "Stay with me."   
  
"I'm not going anywhere." Logan answered, stroking her hair as he pulled the blanket over her.   
  
"Logan?" Max whispered a few minuets later, he voice slurred with sleep.   
  
"Yeah, baby?"   
  
"Merry Christmas."   
  
"Merry Christmas, Max."   
  
  



	7. Insight

Niva sat on the balcony; her arms wrapped around he legs as she calmly watched the sun rise over New York City. She took a deep breath, and after holding it a moment, released it to watch the white mist scatter into the early morning air.   
  
For the first time in well over fifty years, the forever-burning lights of New York were dimmed, no matter how temporary. With the current energy crisis, electricity was at a premium, something only the very rich could afford, and even those that could were under strict mandatory conservation laws, threats of incarceration against those accused of power jacking. Niva momentarily glanced over her shoulder through the clear sliding glass door into Ben's penthouse. At least eight lamps burned in the living room, the kitchen was brightly lit, and god knows where else the man was using the much sought after energy. Ben seemed like the kind of man who would leave a light on while he went to the store, while some poor family in Queens couldn't eat because they couldn't cook their food. It was, as usual, the rich and powerful that survived the energy crisis, and the normal people like herself that suffered the consequences of their selfishness.   
  
Niva swore lightly under her breath as he thoughts trailed off. Why was she wondering about the Electricity Shortage of 2020 when she'd almost gotten her sister killed tonight?   
  
A single tear escaped Niva's green eyes as she watched the sun rise.   
  
  
Ben couldn't take the silence anymore. It was deafening. And it seemed he was the only one who found the events of the night in the least disturbing. Zack was asleep, lightly, but quiet none the less on the couch. The last he'd checked on the happy couple, if you could call them that under the circumstances, Max was deeply asleep in Logan's arms, who was asleep himself. Niva had quickly disappeared after Max and Logan went to sleep. So, all this stuff, Max helping save her fugitive family, Max falling into the apartment soaking wet and hypothermic, it wasn't enough to disturb there sleeping patterns. It kind of made you wonder what would.   
  
He needed air. It wasn't looking like he'd be able to get pissy drunk in the next couple of hours, who knew when the military might bust down your door, or some more killing machines might walk in the door. Not the time to be blindly drunk, if you asked him. He knew Max, he'd met her six months ago, he'd hung out at a bar with her, he'd practically shoved her and Logan together, for Christ sake. And now he finds out that she is a medical experiment gone wrong, trained to kill in multiple types of hand to hand combat, every type of gun imaginable, explosives…. he had hooked his best friend up with a killer. The thought ran through Ben's head and made his stomach turn.   
  
Ben pushed himself off the chair and pulled open the balcony door, the cold air rushing across his face, biting his skin like a slap. The sun was just finishing it's rise, the sky a beautiful color of violet. As she walked over to the railing and leaned against it, scanning the sky, he didn't notice Niva curled up in a chair behind him.   
  
Dark hair looking like it was about two weeks late for a hair cut, the exact color hard to tell in the dim light, Niva observed as she quickly wiped away the tears that had stained her face. He had broad shoulders, narrow waist; he had the physique of a football player with the height of a basketball player. He was a good looking man, Niva recalled, but he could be Dylan F**king Douglas, and be the reigning king of Hollywood, and Niva didn't care, she just wanted to be alone.   
  
"Looks like this is turning out to be a popular place tonight." Ben jumped about three feet out of his skin when Niva spoke from behind him. Speak of the killing machine.   
  
"God." Ben said as he turned. "You certainly are quiet."   
  
"It's all in the training." She said flippantly, who'd already gotten the 411 on Ben's position as far as the X5s went from Zack, who was told by Logan in those long hours that they waited for Max. 'Enemy territory.' Niva thought sardonically. 'He already thinks all we do is run around going KILL! KILL! KILL! I wonder how surprised he'd if I knocked him over the railing? Nah, he's probably expecting it by now.'   
  
"Yeah." Ben said running his hand through his hair, uncomfortable at the mention of Manticore.   
  
"So tell me," Niva said as she examined her nails. Her manicure was totally shot. "How long have you known Logan?"   
  
"Since college." Ben said carefully, not knowing quite how much he should be telling her. Friend or foe, the jury was still out.   
  
"So you can give me the story on him and Max?" She said offhandedly, milking him for info that he wasn't about to ask Zack anymore about Max and Logan, whose most common answer was an manly man unintelligible grunt.   
  
"Uh…they're living together." Ben muttered, turning back to face the sky.   
  
Niva closed her eyes and sighed. "Figures."   
  
Ben turned back to look at her. "What?"   
  
"Oh, nothing. Just figures that I see Max for the first time in eleven years and I manage to f**k her life up royally."   
  
Ben stared at her as he crossed his arms, not in accusation but in battle against the cold. "What do you mean? It seems to me you saved her life."   
  
The reality of the situation was; if Niva hadn't been there, then Max would be dead. Zack might have been trained to be the commanding officer, but Niva was the one who'd been trained to be the field doctor. Manticore couldn't have their multimillion-dollar killing machines get killed in the field. Zack wouldn't have known what the hell to do, and if Ben or Logan were faced with the situation, they'd probably dump Max into a hot bath and kill her on the spot.   
  
But at the same time, Niva knew she was fully responsible for Max being hurt. She'd been trying to save her, all because she couldn't take a simple order from Zack. For the first time in her life, she dared to ignore an order from Zack, and the next thing she knew a TAC team had her surrounded and even with Zack's help, they both would have been killed in a matter of moments. It was one thing when they were only trying to capture them, but when that TAC team had specific orders to kill, it was quite another.   
  
So in came Max, the tables had turned, she was safe, but Max is missing. So much for rebellion. If she'd simply listened to Zack and gotten out of the city when he warned her that Manticore was closing in, Max wouldn't have ended up taking a swim in the Hudson Bay.   
  
What a way to spend Christmas morning, your long lost sister's life in your hands knowing that she is inches from death. Max had been so much worse off then Niva dared let on. It was obvious that she and Zack were the only ones who wouldn't have completely shut down if Niva have put into words what it was like to feel Max's pulse get fainter and fainter as they struggled to raise her core temp. Logan, who Niva had no idea the extent the extent of his and Max's relationship at the time, only knowing that their must be on for Max to call out for him in her hypothermic delusions. Ben had looked like he was on thin ice, excuse the pun, but he'd stayed in control and did what he was told when he was told to, which earned him a small once of respect in Niva's book. If only he weren't working for the enemy.   
  
"I might have saved her life." Niva said after a couple of minuets. "But what does she have to live for now? Manticore knows she's in New York, so she'll have to leave, and leave Logan behind, unless she wants to get him killed to, all because I couldn't follow a simple order." Niva sighed, willing the tears that threatened to rise away. "Figures the one sister who has a semi-normal life, I go and screw here over."   
  
"They don't live in New York. They live in Seattle." Ben commented. "They're only out here because I asked them to help…" Ben trailed off as he turned away from Niva again.   
  
"Oh, I know all about you," Niva said, her voice turning frigid as the air swirling around them. "You helped get my a** in trouble. Nice try, but when you go running back to Manticore, do me a favor and tell those f**ks that they'll never take me alive. Only way I'll go back to that hellhole is in a body bag." Ben was almost sure he heard her make a hissing sound. "And if you even try and hurt Max I swear to--"   
  
"Look, I'm not going to turn you in." Ben snapped. "Especially not Max, so why don't you back off."   
  
Niva froze. Why did she instantly believe him? She knew better than that. "When did you decide that we deserve to be among civilized society?"   
  
Ben looked up. "I…I have no idea." He smiled briefly, and Niva's eyes almost rolled into the back of her head. Well, he wasn't Dylan Douglas, but he'd do. "I came out here still believing to worst, I have don't idea when I changed my mind."   
  
Niva studied him a moment. It looked like he was in his own little world of thought. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go check Max's vitals. Make sure she isn't having any complications or anything." Niva saw that her words weren't even phasing Ben, so she simply got up and walked away, into the apartment.   
  
Ben stared off into space blankly, deep in thought of what he'd gotten himself tangled up into. He was so deep in thought that he didn't see Niva walking around his living room, turning off lamps.   
  
A/N: Dylan Douglas is Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglases son, just used the name.  



	8. Cold Fingers

A/N: Welp...got some more of this out while I was on vacation. I have another chapter written, I'll see when the muse strikes me to type it up.  
  
Big Apple  
  
Chapter 8  
  
Max was enjoying the comforts of a long, healing sleep when she was awaken by the startling feeling of cold fingers on her wrist. Not wanting to end the interesting dream of blurry colors and cryptic conversation with the man she loved, she pulled her hand free and buried her head under the small mountain of fluffy white pillows. The icy hand was a persistent little bugger, though, and had pulled her hand out from under the thick blanket that she'd uselessly hidden under. Max reluctantly cracked an eye open to see Niva checking her pulse with one eye on the bed and one eye on the small silver watch on her wrist. "I'm fine, damn it."   
  
Niva's mouth quirked into a smile when Max's sleepy voice registered from beneath the pillows. She tried tugging her arm free again but Niva was more determined. "Hold still, Maxie, or you'll screw me up, and then we'll have to start over." Her voice was smooth and warm. It was a voice that Max remembered comforting her last night in her confused delirium of hypothermia. It comforted her again; enough so that she cooperated and let Niva finish taking her pulse with out the slightest complaint. At least, she didn't make the complaints that were raging through her head verbal. "Hmm. It's a little high." She said, which had Max swearing as she sat up. Max swore again, instantly awake, when she realized that she was completely naked. She grabbed the blanket and yanked it up around her neck quickly. "God, Maxie, they're breast, and guess what, I have them too."   
  
"Doesn't mean you get to look at mine." Max muttered as she rightly wrapped the blanket around her and tied the edges in a knot.   
  
"They aren't going to throw me into a fit of ecstasy or anything, one you're my sister, and two I don't swing that way. Now let me change the bandages on your back."  
  
"Kiss my ass." Max snapped and tried to slide out of bed. Her escape was cut short when Niva pushed her back down.   
  
"As soon as you roll over." Max was still thinking of a reply to that when she saw Logan entering the doorway.  
  
"Hey!" She called, sarcasm lacing her voice. "Niva's about to give me a gyno exam. You want to watch? In fact, call Ben and Zack in here and we'll make a show out of it!"  
  
Niva gained a whole new level of respect for him when Logan arched a brow and pretended to contemplate this. "Think we could open it to the public and charge admission?" He darted out of the room when Max grabbed a pillow and launched it at him.  
  
"I can see why your pulse was high." Niva commented under her breath. "If I had that laying around, I don't think I'd ever leave the house."  
  
Max's mouth turned up into a smirk. "It's a trial leaving for work in the morning. Trust me, I've been there."  
  
"Why leave at all? With our flexibility and stamina, we could make any man our sex slaves within a day. Then you take all their money and decent artwork and move onto the next trust fund baby."  
  
"Sounds like you thought that one out really well."  
  
"Didn't have too. The queen of gold diggers adopted me and she's taught me all that I know. I was merely a tool to get child support." Niva brushed past those dark years of adolescence with barely a whisper of a thought. But Max didn't miss that brief flicker of remorse in her eyes.   
  
"Wow." Max replied, trying to lighten the mood. "Your even more of a cynical bitch than I was." Niva smiled at the past tense of that. As jaded as she was towards men, seeing how obviously happy Max and Logan were together, even after the events of last night, was enough to hope that of anyone, they could be happy together.  
  
Niva finally allowed Max to get out of bed once she was done changing the bandages on her back. She slid out of bed, carefully holding the blanket up as she quickly moved to her suitcase and grabbed clothes off the top. "What can I say?" Niva asked from the other side of the room and she carefully threw away Max's old bandages. "We're products of our training."  
  
Before both of them had time to think about it, Max had dropped her clothes on the bed and met Niva halfway. They hugged; long, hard, and tight. "God, its been to long." Max whispered around barely suppressed tears.   
  
"I'd yell at you for that crazy shit you pulled last night, but since I haven't seen you for almost twelve years, I'll let you get some caffeine first." She tried to sound flippant, but the lump in her throat prevented that.  
  
"Let me take a shower and then we'll catch up on the last decade." Max promised.  
  
Still, neither of them was willing to let go quite yet.  
  
When Niva finally walked back into the kitchen after Max locked her self in the bathroom, three pairs of eyes were all staring at her anxiously. "She's completely fine. No after effects from anything that happened yesterday."  
  
Logan smiled, Ben's tense shoulders relaxed, but Zack just stared, no emotion crossing his icy face.  
  
Niva's spine straightened, a direct challenge to her brother, to the point where it was almost painful. Zack's message was clear. Don't get too attached, because he was going to do anything in his power to keep them at opposite ends of the earth.  
  
But he was invited to try, in Niva's mind. She'd just gotten her sister back and she wasn't about to let one pissed off FIC keep them apart. He didn't have a chance in hell when two Manticore females had their minds set. 


	9. Aftermath

I know it's been a long time since I'd updated this and in my avoidance of the next chapter of Extra Ordinary, this popped out. Read and review please, don't forget me. Special thanks to Cat for reading all this crap, and Karen for giving me the grammar advice I don't follow. J   
  
  
  
Big Apple   
  
Chapter 8   
  
Logan stuck his head in the steamed filled bathroom. "Are you going to hurt me if I come in?"   
  
"Not so long as you hurry it up." Max reached across the small guest bathroom and dragged him into the room, slamming the door shut behind him. "You letting all my hot air out." She said accusingly.   
  
"My apologies." He said with mock sincerity and a small smile. He leaned against the counter next to Max as she pulled a comb roughly through her hair. His face turned serious as he took catalogue of the bruises and scratches that marred her bare shoulder. "How are you feeling?"   
  
Max laid the comb on the counter and turned to look Logan directly in the eyes. "I am fine." She said. "Everyone needs to believe me when I tell them that there is nothing wrong with me."   
  
"Your sure your fine?" Logan asked   
  
"Yes." Max reassured   
  
"Good." Logan said, lacing his fingers with hers, then lightly kissing her hand. "Now that you've made a complete recovery, I can yell at you properly." Max narrowed her eyes and silently pulled her hand away. "You scared the hell out of me last night. First I see you take a dive out a window and then you disappear for half the night."   
  
"Well, excuse me, Logan." Max snapped irritably. "I had several Manticore soldiers following me and I didn't think it was the best idea to bring them back here and compromise everyone. It was standard escape and evade." Logan hated the icy edge her voice took on when she was in full Manticore mode.   
  
"Does standard escape and evade mean running around in below zero temperature soaking wet?"   
  
"I know what I can handle and I handled last night just fine." Max said, picking up the comb and turning away from Logan.   
  
"Brushing this off like it was nothing is just going to piss me off, Max." Logan grabbed her by the shoulders, turning her so she faced him. "If you'd been a minute later or Niva had been a minute slower you wouldn't be here right now."   
  
Max kept her eyes fixed on a spot over Logan's shoulder. "You can't expect me to take this without a second thought. I almost lost you." He said quietly. Max felt all her carefully constructed defensives melt away and the utter helplessness in his voice.   
  
"Logan." She said, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around his waist. "I'm fine." She laid her head against his chest, listening to the steady thump of his heartbeat, trying to think of the words she knew he needed to hear. None came.   
  
They remained like that for several minutes, their silence more healing than any words could be. Logan doubted he'd close his eyes without seeing Ben laying Max's barely conscious body on his kitchen table for a long time.   
  
Finally, Max leaned back with a small smile. "I promise next time I get knocked out a window by a Manticore TAC team into a freezing bay I'll bring a change of clothes."   
  
Logan returned her smile with a weak laugh. "Thanks."   
  
"In any case," Max said with a bright smile, "You'll have to excuse me. I think I'm going to go kick Ben's ass now." She ran a brush through her hair a final time.   
  
"Care if I watch?" Logan asked with just enough boyish excitement to have her laughing.   
  
She was dressed and out of the room in a flash and Logan followed her with a mixture of curiosity and sick, twisted pleasure.   
  
'Merry Christmas to me.' Logan thought as he heard Ben's first yelp of pain. 


	10. Resolution...?

1 Jaci's Note: Holy crap in a hand basket! I've written two things in less than 24 hours! Okay, same thing as Forever Young. If you want email alerts to when I've updated this or any of my other fics, then drop me a line at princessjaci@hotmail.com  
  
Thanks to Cat for her help with the dialogue. I often don't mention how much I appreciate everything she's helped me with. If it weren't for her, I would have long since given up on writing. She helps me develop the plots to everything I write and shoots down the things that, though I love, can't work.  
  
Jeanne deserves some props for correction my terrible grammar.  
  
"Zack's *in* Niva? SML!!"  
  
2  
  
3  
  
4  
  
5 Big Apple  
  
Chapter 10  
  
Ben was alone in the kitchen, rooting through his embarrassingly empty cupboards in hopes of finding something decent to eat when Max entered. He could hear the voices of Zack and Niva from the other room, and though he couldn't hear their words, he knew there was a rather heated debate going on. Unfortunately, he didn't have the enhanced hearing of the three transgenics in his home, so he'd been demoted to cooking for them.  
  
At least, that was the plan till he was roughly spun around and slammed into the counter, causing him to drop the can of soup he had been holding. The back of his head smacked against a closed cupboard door with a sickening thud. And there was Max's smiling face. "'Morning Ben." She said flatly. "Sleep well?"  
  
Ben rubbed the back of his head, fleetingly thinking of attempting escape before he looked up to see Logan standing in the doorway. He was blocking the door more than standing in it. He was trapped. Ben shot Logan a look that screamed for help, but only made it harder for Logan to hold back his laughter.  
  
"Not very talkative, I see." Before Ben could blink, he found his face pressed painfully against the refrigerator. "I guess I'll just have to change your mind." Max's voice never lost that emotionless quality that was scarier than if she'd been screaming and throwing things. Being in the middle of five sisters, he could have handled that.  
  
"Max." Ben said as calmly as he could, considering the death grip Max had on the back of his neck. "Let's just sit down and talk rationally."  
  
"Okay, we'll sit." She barely moved a muscle, but Ben suddenly found himself staring at the ceiling and wandering how he'd managed to hit the exact same spot on his head twice.  
  
Max pulled a chair from the table and dragged it over next to Ben. She sat down on it herself, then crossed her ankles and propped her feet up on Ben's stomach. "Okay, now we can talk rationally." Max paused for half a second. "You can think what you want about me. You can think whatever you want about my family. But you haven't lived our lives and you aren't going to be able to help them send us back. The only reason I'm not out disposing of your body right now is because you're a friend of Logan's. Now, you can tell me any and all information that you received from Manticore. Or, I can call Zack in. His specialty was interrogation and you've seen pictures of just what we're capable of."  
  
"I was contacted by Dr. Elizabeth Renfro a little more than a week ago." Ben had barely begun before Max interrupted.  
  
"Who the hell is that?" She snapped.  
  
"The director of Manticore. She heads up the main Wyoming facility. She's been put in charge of finding a group of transgenics that escaped in '09." Ben smiled up at Max from the floor. "That would be you."  
  
"What the hell happened to Lydecker?" Max muttered. "Go on." She ordered.  
  
"As I already told you, I had been in South Africa for the Times, and I saw some pretty messed up stuff. Including what I now know to be a X6 assassinating a top ranking general. None of my photos turned out, but I knew what I saw, so I began calling in favors and gathering what information I could about Manticore. Which is basically nothing. But one day some storm troopers ran me off the road on my way home from work. To make a long story short, I had a pleasant little meeting with Dr. Renfro. She probably would have just killed first, asked questions later but since I lived in New York City she figured I might be of some use since they had just gotten information on a possible X5 in the city. After some negotiation, I agreed to help her detain the X5 in exchange for the chance to get inside Manticore."  
  
"You realize that the moment she got Niva in a cage, you would have been nothing more than a lose thread? You would have been shot in the back of the head before you even made it out of the door." Max said slowly. "If you want to live through this, you need to understand that right now. A civilian means nothing to them. Less than nothing. A civilian that has information on them.there dead as soon as they've run out of their usefulness. These are some seriously dangerous people you've gotten yourself mixed up with."  
  
"Aw, Max, it almost sounds like you care." Ben said with sugary sweet sarcasm.  
  
"Like I said, you're a friend of Logan's." Max said emotionlessly. She slid off her chair then offered him a hand. Ben tentatively took it and was quickly pulled to his feet. She spoke so softly it was barely audible. "One last thing before I'm out of here. I need you to be honest with me here. If you still want to help Manticore, that's your decision. I just ask that you leave Logan out of it. In fact, I'll turn myself in if you'll let me get him out of here before anything goes down. Please, just do that for me." Before anything else could be said to make things worse, she turned on her heel and headed for the door.  
  
That was all Ben needed to hear. "I'm not turning anyone in, Max." Max stopped dead in her tracks. "Not Zack, not Niva, and definitely not you."  
  
Max didn't turn, but she stopped. "Yes, I did think the worst of you." Ben continued. "I only believed what they told me to believe without entertaining the idea that there was another side to this story. A journalists worst mistake." He said with a small smile.  
  
"You thought we were nothing but cold blooded killers." Max finally turned to face him. "Why are you suddenly so sure we're not?"  
  
Ben gestured towards the Christmas tree standing in the corner of his living room. "I'll show you." They crossed the room, Logan stepping out of their way in complete bewilderment and the strange turn this had taken. "Admittedly, I did think the worst of you." Ben picked up a small flat package wrapped in dark green paper and handed it to her. "Then I remembered this."  
  
Max studied the paper, the tag, and the bow in turn before she flipped it over in her hand and carefully tore the paper. It was a photo frame, and when she turned it over in her hand it was all she could not to instantly laugh.  
  
The picture was softly blurred, but the figures were still unmistakable. It was Logan and herself curled up together on his couch. It had been the night they'd gotten completely smashed, giggled through a proclamation of love, and then passed out on the couch. Even in their drunken oblivion, Ben managed to capture the complete mood of the moment in that photograph. "No wonder you've got a Pulitzer." Max murmured, never taking her eyes off the photograph.  
  
"Two." Ben corrected, pointing to the awards displayed over his fireplace. "But that's beside the point. It took me a little while to get over the fact that you're an X5. Honestly, I was completely stunned. There was no way the woman I knew from that weekend in Seattle was capable of the things that Dr. Renfro said. Those hours that you were missing last night I spent trying to come to terms with the fact that it'd been you I had been trying to hunt down. Just before dawn this morning I was still stuck on it. But then I realized why it was so hard to accept. You weren't what I was trying to hunt down, because you aren't what they say you are. The only thing I regret was putting you all at risk because I wanted to get a good story. It's weak, I know, but there isn't words to describe how terrible I feel."  
  
Max felt ridiculous for being as touched as she was. "Well, you should!" She said for a lack of anything else.  
  
Ben laughed; hoping the worst of it had passed. "Well, can I ask a question?"  
  
"I guess." Max said distractedly, still studying the picture in her hands.  
  
"Show me your barcode?" Ben said with enough impishness to have Max's eyes fly up?  
  
"Excuse me?" Max asked at length.  
  
Ben's grin spread and he tapped the back of his neck. "Can I see?"  
  
Max's mouth dropped open. With a final glare, she turned and walked away.  
  
"Oh, come on Max!" Ben followed. "It's not like I haven't seen one before!"  
  
"No." Max said as she crossed the room. "You want to see one so much, go whip out your pictures."  
  
"It's not the same as the real thing!" Ben whined dramatically. 


End file.
